PM dines global business leaders; vows good governance

Prime Minister Narendra Modi told leading global investors on Tuesday that his priority is to establish global benchmarks for India in areas like governance, transparency and taxation.

At the 'India Investor Summit', organised by the world's largest asset manager BlackRock, Modi said that the government's priority is "growth and jobs" and added that there is rising interest in India and "we have to accept that responsibility".

As many as 21 major global investors which manage more than $11 trillion worth of investible assets participated in summit earlier in the day. These included asset managers, insurers, pension funds, and official institutions.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority committed $770 billion in Indian investments; the Australian Government Future Fund $95 billion, Temasek $175 billion, Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board $205 billion, Hong Kong Monetary Authority $400 billion, and Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency $755 billion.

Union ministers Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari, Suresh Prabhu, Dharmendra Pradhan and Piyush Goyal attended the post-summit dinner hosted by Modi.

Pitching the India growth story, Modi promised the investors a fair, predictable and consistent tax system and growth-focussed economic policies.

Modi said infrastructure development is one of the best routes to create jobs. He told top honchos of leading equity firms and government funds such as Ace Ltd, AIA Group, APG, GIC Singapore, PSP Investment Board and California State Teachers Retirement System that India needs to both expand and upgrade its infrastructure.

The PM said the goal of affordable housing for all by 2022 would in itself provide a huge boost to the economy. He pointed out that the government is focussing on skill development that would fulfil not just the Indian requirement, but also the global requirement.